Port Hope parks manager Trevor Clapperton stands on the east beach where the sand dredged from the harbour entrance will be put. (TED AMSDEN)

Between 3,000 and 3,500 cubic metres of sand will be dredged from the central area of the harbour entrance just before it splits into the canal leading to the yacht basin and the channel leading up the Ganaraska River, parks director Trevor Clapperton says.

The area will be excavated to a depth of 2.5 metres.

With the exception of a few places, Clapperton says, the areas near the east and west walls of the entrance are already deep enough.
Using a long-armed excavator, contractor Don Oliver cleared the area leading into the yacht basin near the wall a couple of weeks ago.

The operation currently underway uses a dredger owned by Cobourg. The machine recently completed dredging the mouth of the Cobourg harbour, moving about 5,000 cubic metres of sand onto Cobourg’s Victoria Beach.

Clapperton says the same procedure is being followed in Port Hope, where long interconnecting pieces of flexible pipe are hooked together leading from the computer-operated GPS-assisted dredger to an outlet on the east beach where the mixture of sand and water are released.

An excavator will pile and move the sand around the beach as the process continues.

Clapperton says the Ministry of the Environment asked for pre-dredging tests of the sand, and he adds additional testing will be done on the beach.